Mesh screen assembly with an image pattern

ABSTRACT

A mesh screen assembly with an image pattern includes: a mesh screen having opposite first and second surfaces and a plurality of screen-holes extending through the first and second surfaces, each of the screen-holes being defined by a hole-defining wall; and a plastic film bonded to the first surface of the mesh screen and having opposite first and second faces and an image pattern formed on the first face. The plastic film is perforated to form a plurality of apertures. Each of the apertures is defined by an aperture-defining wall. The aperture-defining wall of each of the apertures extends into a respective one of the screen-holes and wraps around and is bonded to at least a portion of the hole-defining wall of the respective one of the screen-holes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese application no. 101114355,filed on Apr. 23, 2012.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a mesh screen assembly with an image pattern,more particularly to a mesh screen assembly including a mesh screen anda perforated plastic film bonded to the mesh screen and having an imagepattern.

2. Description of the Related Art

Mesh screens are commonly used in windows and doors, agriculturalhousings, shades, fences, etc.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,997,035 discloses a decorative window screen 21 (seeFIG. 1) that includes a mesh woven base screen with an image pattern.The image pattern is formed by weaving the base screen with differentdensities of image areas. In addition, the different densities of theimage areas can be woven with different colored strands or wires.Weaving the base screen with the image pattern is expensive.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,893 discloses a conventional decorative privacyscreen 22 (see FIG. 2) that includes a base screen which is painted orcoated with an image pattern. Painting or coating an image pattern onthe base screen is inconvenient, which makes it difficult for massproduction of the decorative privacy screen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a meshscreen assembly that can overcome the aforesaid drawbacks associatedwith the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of makingthe mesh screen assembly.

According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a meshscreen assembly with an image pattern. The mesh screen assemblyincludes: a mesh screen having opposite first and second surfaces and aplurality of screen-holes extending through the first and secondsurfaces, each of the screen-holes being defined by a hole-definingwall; and a plastic film bonded to the first surface of the mesh screenand having opposite first and second faces and an image pattern formedon the first face. The plastic film is perforated to form a plurality ofapertures extending through the first and second faces. Each of theapertures is defined by an aperture-defining wall. The aperture-definingwall of each of the apertures extends into a respective one of thescreen-holes and wraps around and is bonded to at least a portion of thehole-defining wall of the respective one of the screen-holes.

According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided amethod for making a mesh screen assembly with an image pattern. Themethod includes: (a) stacking a mesh screen on a screen mold, the meshscreen having opposite first and second surfaces and a plurality ofscreen-holes extending through the first and second surfaces, each ofthe screen-holes being defined by a hole-defining wall; (b) stacking aplastic film, which is printed with an image pattern, on the mesh screenon the screen mold; (c) heating and softening the plastic film on themesh screen after step (b); (d) perforating the plastic film throughvacuum perforation techniques using a suctioning device after step (c)so as to form a plurality of apertures in the plastic film and aplurality of aperture-defining walls, which define the apertures, whichextend into the screen-holes, and which wrap around and are melt bondedto the hole-defining walls of the screen-holes, respectively, therebyforming a mesh screen assembly on the screen mold; and (e) cooling andremoving the mesh screen assembly from the screen mold.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional decorative window screen;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a conventional decorative privacy screen;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the first preferred embodiment of amesh screen assembly according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along lines IV-IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along lines V-V in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating consecutive steps of a method ofmaking a mesh screen assembly with an image pattern according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating how a plastic film is perforatedand bonded to a mesh screen on a screen mold using a suctioning deviceaccording to the method of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a picture showing a plastic film printed with an imagepattern, which is used in the method of making an embodiment of the meshscreen assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a picture showing a mesh screen, which is used in the methodof making the embodiment of the mesh screen assembly of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a picture showing a front side of the embodiment of the meshscreen assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged picture of a portion of the mesh screen assemblyof FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a picture showing a back side of the embodiment of the meshscreen assembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the second preferred embodiment of themesh screen assembly according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before the present invention is described in greater detail withreference to the accompanying preferred embodiments, it should be notedherein that like elements are denoted by the same reference numeralsthroughout the disclosure.

FIGS. 3 to 5 illustrate the first preferred embodiment of a mesh screenassembly 100 according to the present invention. The mesh screenassembly 100 has front and back sides, and includes: a mesh screen 3having opposite first and second surfaces 33, 34 that respectivelycorrespond to the front and back sides of the mesh screen assembly 100,and a plurality of screen-holes 35 extending through the first andsecond surfaces 33, 34, each of the screen-holes 35 being defined by ahole-defining wall 351; and a plastic film 4 bonded to the first surface33 of the mesh screen 3 and having opposite first and second faces 41,42 and an image pattern 5 formed on the first face 41. The plastic film4 is perforated to forma plurality of apertures 40 extending through thefirst and second faces 41, 42. Each of the apertures 40 is defined by anaperture-defining wall 401. The aperture-defining wall 401 of each ofthe apertures 40 extends into a respective one of the screen-holes 35and wraps around and is bonded to a portion of the hole-defining wall351 of the respective one of the screen-holes 35.

The mesh screen 3 has warp threads and weft threads 31, 32 that areinterlaced to form the screen-holes 35.

Preferably, at least a portion 51 of the image pattern 5 (see FIG. 4)extends into adjacent ones of the screen-holes 35, and is disposed onthe corresponding hole-defining walls 351, thereby permitting viewing ofthe portion 51 of the image pattern 5 at an inclined angle relative tothe first surface 33 of the mesh screen 3.

Preferably, the screen-holes 35 in the mesh screen 3 have a diameterranging from 70 μm to 2 cm.

The image pattern 5 is made from an ink material printed on the plasticfilm 4 through conventional ink printing techniques. Preferably, theplastic film 4 is made from a thermoplastic material selected from thegroup consisting of polyolefins, polyesters and thermoplasticelastomers.

Preferably, the plastic film 4 has a thickness ranging from 15 μm to 70μm.

The aperture-defining wall 401 of each of the apertures 40 is preferablytruncated conical in shape, and is tapered from the front side of themesh screen assembly 100 toward the back side of the mesh screenassembly 100 so that the mesh screen assembly 100 is capable ofproviding different visibilities therethrough when viewing from thefront and back sides, respectively. As such, the size of each of theapertures 40 can be designed to allow a person standing at the frontside of the mesh screen assembly 100 to be able to see through theapertures 40 in the mesh screen assembly 100, and to prevent a personstanding at the back side of the mesh screen assembly 100 from beingable to see through the apertures 40 in the mesh screen assembly 100.

FIG. 6, in combination with FIG. 7, illustrates consecutive steps of amethod of making the first preferred embodiment. The method includes thesteps of: (a) stacking the mesh screen 3 on a screen mold 6; (b)stacking the plastic film 4, which is printed with the image pattern 5,on the mesh screen 3 on the screen mold 6; (c) heating and softening theplastic film 4 on the mesh screen 3 after step (b); (d) perforating theplastic film 4 through vacuum perforation techniques using a suctioningdevice 7 after step (c) so as to form the apertures 40 in the plasticfilm 4 and permit melt bonding of the plastic film 4 to the mesh screen3, thereby forming the mesh screen assembly 100 on the screen mold 6;and (e) cooling and removing the mesh screen assembly 100 from thescreen mold 6. The mesh screen 3 is made from a material having amelting point higher than that of the thermoplastic material of theplastic film 4.

The printing of the image pattern 5 on the plastic film 4 can beaccomplished using conventional printing techniques. Since the printingtechnology on a plastic film is well developed, the method of thepresent invention for forming the image pattern 5 on the mesh screen 3becomes relatively simple and easy. In addition, high resolution of theimage pattern 5 on the mesh screen 3 can be easily realized.Furthermore, mass production of the mesh screen assembly 100 of thepresent invention can be easily achieved.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show the plastic film 4 printed with the image pattern 5(a plurality of balloons) and the mesh screen 3, respectively, beforeperforating the plastic film 4 and bonding of the plastic film 4 to themesh screen 3 to form an embodiment of the mesh screen assembly 100.FIG. 10 shows a front side of the embodiment of the mesh screen assembly100 made from the plastic film 4 of FIG. 8 and the mesh screen 3 of FIG.9. FIG. 11 shows a portion of the mesh screen assembly 100 of FIG. 10.FIG. 12 shows a back side of the embodiment of the mesh screen assembly100 (the balloons can also be seen at the back side) made from theplastic film 4 of FIG. 8 and the mesh screen 3 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 13 illustrates the second preferred embodiment of the mesh screenassembly 100 according to the present invention. The second preferredembodiment differs from the previous embodiment in that theaperture-defining wall 401 of each of the apertures 40 further extendsthrough the respective one of the screen-holes 35, and further wrapsaround and is bonded to a portion of the second surface 34 of the meshscreen 3. In this embodiment, at least a portion 52 of the image pattern5 extends through adjacent ones of the screen-holes 35, and is disposedon the portion of the second surface 34 of the mesh screen 3, therebypermitting viewing of the portion 52 of the image pattern 5 from theback side of mesh screen assembly 100.

With the inclusion of the plastic film 4, that has the image pattern 5and that is bonded to the mesh screen 3, in the mesh screen assembly 100of the present invention, the aforesaid drawbacks associated with theprior art can be eliminated.

While the present invention has been described in connection with whatare considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation andequivalent arrangements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mesh screen assembly with an image pattern,comprising: a mesh screen having opposite first and second surfaces anda plurality of screen-holes extending through said first and secondsurfaces, each of said screen-holes being defined by a hole-definingwall; and a plastic film bonded to said first surface of said meshscreen and having opposite first and second faces and an image patternformed on said first face, said plastic film being perforated to form aplurality of apertures extending through said first and second faces,each of said apertures being defined by an aperture-defining wall;wherein said aperture-defining wall of each of said aperture extendsinto a respective one of said screen-holes and wraps around and isbonded to at least a portion of said hole-defining wall of therespective one of said screen-holes.
 2. The mesh screen assembly ofclaim 1, wherein at least a portion of said image pattern extends intoadjacent ones of said screen-holes.
 3. The mesh screen assembly of claim1, wherein said image pattern is made from an ink material printed onsaid plastic film.
 4. The mesh screen assembly of claim 1, wherein saidplastic film is made from a thermoplastic material selected from thegroup consisting of polyolefins, polyesters and thermoplasticelastomers.
 5. The mesh screen assembly of claim 1, wherein saidaperture-defining wall of each of said apertures further extends throughthe respective one of said screen-holes, and further wraps around and isbonded to a portion of said second surface of said mesh screen, at leasta portion of said image pattern extending through adjacent ones of saidscreen-holes and being disposed on said portion of said second surfaceof said mesh screen.